Weaving a Web of Understanding

Our kindergarten and first grade students are learning about responding to literature.  We have learned about story elements such as; characters, setting, and main events and now we are learning to look for differences and similarities between texts. Each week, we read a story from our reading series, a leveled reader, a phonics reader, and a nursery rhyme or fairy tale.  When we read fairy tales, we read multiple versions and discuss how they are alike and different.  We have also started learning how to compare and contrast with familiar stories that do not have the same characters or adventures. 

This week, our first graders read the story, A Big Circle, which was a fictional story about dinosaurs.  Then, in guided reading they read another book about dinosaurs.  With prompting and support, they were able to compare and contrast the two stories they read.  We talked and charted the comparisons on what we call the "top hat" graphic organizer.  The titles are listed at the top of the hat, then there are two columns where we list the differences in each story.  The brim of the hat is how the two stories were alike.  Below are the charts our first graders filled with ideas.  They were great thinkers!

In shared reading this week, our kindergarteners listened to the story, Bear Snores On.  Then, later in the week we read, The Very Cranky Bear.  These two stories are very similar, because they both talk about a bear in a cave sleeping while other animals come in and do other things to disturb the bear.  After reading the second book, students were asked to draw a picture of how the characters in the story had different experiences.  They had to draw one picture of characters from Bear Snores On and another from The Very Cranky Bear.  Then, we came together as a group and had a discussion of how the characters had different experiences in the two stories.  We charted ideas on a top hat graphic organizer and labeled our writer's notebook activity.  Our kindergarteners were able to pick up on some great ways the two stories were alike and different, based on the characters' experiences.  Check out their graphic organizer below.

When our 4th grade reading buddies came on Friday afternoon to work with the kindergarten students, the children had a book talk. The older children asked our kindergarteners questions about setting, characters, and main events in the story.  Then, together the children wrote these literary elements on the body of the spiders we made from our Itsy-Bitsy Spider craft.  Check out our literacy "web of understanding" on our hallway bulletin board.